The present invention is in the field of uncooled infrared detectors. Such detectors are of two general types: thermal and quantum. In a thermal detector, absorbed photons cause a rise in detector temperature and some temperature-dependent property of the detector is monitored to determine its change with temperature. Typical of such detectors are pyroelectric vidicons, detectors using expanding gases, liquids, or solids, thermocouples, bolometers, bimetallic strips, etc. A quantum detector, on the other hand, does not require a temperature rise (although one may occur) in order to have a change in some detector characteristic. Typical quantum detectors are photoelectric detectors operating on such effects as photovoltaic, photoconductive, etc. Another type of detector exists which may be considered a thermal detector, specifically, my U.S. Pat. No. 4,160,907 of July 10, 1979. This patent shows a system in which a thermo-optical transducer has a temperature-dependent optical transmissivity. A read beam passes through the transducer onto an optical detector array. All of the above detectors suffer from one or more disadvantages, such as slow response time, low signal-to-noise ratio, etc. The instant invention overcomes the various other detectors discussed above, has a high D*, fast response time, and high signal-to-noise ratio.